4 ms·

you start to realize that the color blue is a social construct if you are willing to abandon all reason.

krapp 7y ago
Except the color blue is at least partially a social construct[0]. [0]https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/UsefulNotes/GreenIsBlue https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/UsefulNotes/GreenIsBl...
- tenpies 7y ago
  Does that make the colour blue a social construct, or the word blue a social construct? After all, #0000ff is #0000ff no matter what you call it or through whose eyes it reflect photons. ;)
  - krapp 7y ago
    #0000ff doesn't exist in nature. Human beings don't see color directly in hexadecimal values - indeed, additive color (RGB) as broadcast from a monitor and subtractive color as exists in nature are physically different processes. Rather, the perception of color is subjective and error prone (see a HN subthread on the color brown[0,1] or other examples of color illusions like the viral dress from a few years ago, or the red-grey illusion[2]. Blue is a social construct because what "blue" means is taught to us by the culture around us, and different cultures classify colors differently[3,4]. If one culture considers blue and green to be the same color, and another considers them distinct, that's not merely a disagreement over taxonomy, but concept. [0]https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22324298 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22324298 [1]https://news.ycombinator.com/reply?id=22326975&goto=item%3Fid%3D22324298%2322326975 https://news.ycombinator.com/reply?id=22326975&goto=item%3Fi... [2]https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/wnkq5n/this-picture-has-no-red-pixelsso-why-do-the-strawberries-still-look-red https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/wnkq5n/this-picture-has-n... [3]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue%E2%80%93green_distinction_in_language https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue%E2%80%93green_distinction... [4]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linguistic_relativity_and_the_color_naming_debate https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linguistic_relativity_and_the_...

Except the color blue is at least partially a social construct[0]. [0]https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/UsefulNotes/GreenIsBlue https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/UsefulNotes/GreenIsBl...

tenpies 7y ago
Does that make the colour blue a social construct, or the word blue a social construct? After all, #0000ff is #0000ff no matter what you call it or through whose eyes it reflect photons. ;)
- krapp 7y ago
  #0000ff doesn't exist in nature. Human beings don't see color directly in hexadecimal values - indeed, additive color (RGB) as broadcast from a monitor and subtractive color as exists in nature are physically different processes. Rather, the perception of color is subjective and error prone (see a HN subthread on the color brown[0,1] or other examples of color illusions like the viral dress from a few years ago, or the red-grey illusion[2]. Blue is a social construct because what "blue" means is taught to us by the culture around us, and different cultures classify colors differently[3,4]. If one culture considers blue and green to be the same color, and another considers them distinct, that's not merely a disagreement over taxonomy, but concept. [0]https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22324298 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22324298 [1]https://news.ycombinator.com/reply?id=22326975&goto=item%3Fid%3D22324298%2322326975 https://news.ycombinator.com/reply?id=22326975&goto=item%3Fi... [2]https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/wnkq5n/this-picture-has-no-red-pixelsso-why-do-the-strawberries-still-look-red https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/wnkq5n/this-picture-has-n... [3]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue%E2%80%93green_distinction_in_language https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue%E2%80%93green_distinction... [4]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linguistic_relativity_and_the_color_naming_debate https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linguistic_relativity_and_the_...